Making customers happy

A gold star for Lands' End

2012-01-28T13:41:00.002Z

I regularly buy clothing from Lands' End, who sell excellent quality casual and smart casual wear.

In the autumn I bought two pairs of leggings from them. Recently I noticed one pair had begun to come apart at the seams, so I posted that pair back to Lands' End and asked for a new pair and a refund of postage.

That parcel went in the post on Monday.

My new pair arrived today - Saturday. Less than a week later.

With a refund of postage notification.

What great service.

We all make mistakes. Sooner or later every business sells a faulty stock line, or doesn't give tip-top service. But making a mistake is the perfect opportunity to "wow" a customer by putting it right.

Lands' End just wowed me.

That means I'm not only going to go back and buy from them again, but I'll recommend them as a great business to buy from.

White poppy for peace and respect

2011-11-13T15:11:00.003Z

Forgive the off topic nature of this post, please folks - it's Remembrance Sunday and I'd like to share my reasons for wearing the white poppy rather than a red one.

My Quaker faith includes a testimony to peace and nonviolence. But the nature of Quakerism is that nothing is forbidden or prescribed, and Quakers have no creeds. We all have to make our own choices.

In the two World Wars, a lot of Quakers were conscientious objectors. Many served with the Friends' Ambulance Unit to help care for battlefield casualties. But one or two fought. Robert Lawrence Smith, a lifelong Quaker, explains in his book "A Quaker Book of Wisdom" that he chose to fight in the American army during the Second World War because he felt that a lasting peace could not be built until the "unspeakable evil" of Nazism was removed.

So I don't have to wear the white poppy because I happen to be a Quaker. It's a matter of choice.

And I don't agree with those who say that to wear the white poppy is disrespectful to the armed forces and to those who've died in the service of their country.

My white poppy shows that I wish to honour and respect the memory of all the servicemen and women, and civilians, worldwide, who've lost their lives in conflict - but that I deplore the fact that they had to do so.

And for the same reason, through the year, I wear a white dove badge on my coat.

Because "I will never know how men can see the wisdom in a war". - Chris de Burgh

Talk to me, I'm a customer!

2011-11-13T14:34:00.002Z

Two shop-assistant incidents where a chance for a wow was missed.

First - in the gi-normous Waterstone's store in Piccadilly, London. I went up to the counter with a new book to buy. There were no other customers queuing. The staff behind the counter had been chatting as I approached. Perfectly OK. But as one of them served me they continued their conversation, only speaking occasional words to me.

I thought, "What do I have to do to make you pay attention to me? Wave a sign saying 'hello, I'm a customer'? Do a strip-tease in the middle of the shop?"

That's one of my pet hates - shop assistants who talk to each other and ignore their customers. If they draw the customer into their conversation then great, but if they ignore the customer then they're ignoring the people who ultimately pay their wages. Not a good move!

Then this morning, in Waitrose in Hexham, Matt and I were in the queue at the checkout behind a dear old gentleman on his own. He tried to engage the young female cashier in conversation. Nothing remotely creepy, just a friendly chat.

She wasn't having any of it. She hardly spoke a word to him while she served him. And she hardly spoke a word to us either.

For us - meh. We've got each other to talk to. But that gentleman might not see or speak to another human being for days on end. A friendly chat with a kind person at the checkout would make his week, never mind his day.

Contrast that with the staff in every branch of Pret a Manger I've ever visited, who always talk to their customers, greet them in a friendly way, ask "How are you today?" and sound like they really do care about the answer.

Customer service managers, please encourage your staff to talk to their customers!

East Coast take the biscuit for dreadful service

2011-09-26T08:41:00.003+01:00

York-Carlisle East Coast train yesterday afternoon, in First Class.

Free tea, coffee and biscuits?

Yes but...

The two ladies pushing the tea trolley stopped just in front of me, where a black couple were sitting with three packets of biscuits on their table, presumably from earlier in the journey.

"You can't take those off the train," barked one of the trolley ladies. "I'll take them now."

And leaving all of us in the immediate vicinity speechless with horror, she scooped up the biscuits and trundled the trolley away.

That's the most appalling service I've ever seen.

The gentleman had paid for a First Class ticket. He'd paid, in essence, for those biscuits.

And once given to him, they were his to eat exactly when he liked - on or off the train. She had absolutely no right to take them away.

He did go and try to talk to her but she wouldn't listen to him.

I won't be travelling East Coast again if I can possibly help it. I'll stick to Virgin, or go by plane, in future.

UPDATE: East Coast say the team member has been "re-briefed on customer service and how to treat customers". Personally I'm not hugely impressed. I'll still avoid East Coast if I can.

Self-confidence vs arrogance: part 2

2011-09-12T08:10:00.003+01:00

Jim Connolly has published a great article, "How to succeed in a world of failing small businesses".

And I think he's just exemplified the difference between self-confidence and arrogance.

Self-confidence says: "I'm good at what I do. That doesn't mean I think I know everything. There's always more I can learn, from people in all fields including my own. My mind is open to new ideas because that's the best way I can help others succeed."

Arrogance says: "I'm good at what I do, I know all I need to know, and I don't need anyone else telling me what to do or how to do it."

People love to feel wanted and appreciated for their expertise, and to share it. That's why self-confident people draw others to them, and arrogance pushes others away. Who wants to feel like someone else is looking down on them and making them feel like the Dirty Rascal instead of the King of the Castle?

Well not me for starters. That's why I steer clear of arrogant people.

Would you work with arrogant individuals?

2011-09-10T13:04:00.005+01:00

A comment on LinkedIn from Michael Green led me to Jon Daniels' article: "Ten Traits of a Successful Salesman", subtitled "Ten Reasons Why I Am Successful in Sales".

A lot of the subject matter of Jon Daniels' post resonates, and the advice given is very valid (believe in yourself, see opportunities where others see problems, take action to achieve your goals, be enthusiastic, be prepared to swim against the stream).

But the "I'm the King of the Castle, look at me, aren't I wonderful" tone of the article, which I think the subtitle exemplifies, really rankled with me.

He says:

On my first date with my now wife she thought I was arrogant. She soon understood that it was not arrogance, it was self-confidence.

Hmm, it doesn't sound that way to me. Self-confidence and arrogance are two different things, and the tone of the article says to me "arrogance".

Self-confidence and self-belief draw others to you. Arrogance pushes them away.

The individuals I admire most in the business world are those successful folk who are conspicuously NOT arrogant. Michael Green himself is one. Emma Jones is another.

People who have achieved, and do achieve, a great deal in their business careers, but don't put potential contacts off working with them by bleating about how wonderful they are. Instead they use their talents and expertise to help others, through initiatives, and advice that is well-received - because it is delivered in a way that's confident but not arrogant.

To quote from one of my favourite childhood books, "Little Women" by Louisa M. Alcott:

"Conceit spoils the finest genius... [Talents] are always seen and felt in a person's manner and conversation, if modestly used; but it is not necessary to display them," said Mrs. March.
"Any more than it's proper to wear all your bonnets and gowns and ribbons at once, that folks may know you've got them," added Jo; and the lecture ended in a laugh.

While Jon Daniels' advice may be excellent, the tone of his article would make me think more than twice before working with him, or buying from him.

Do arrogant salespeople make you want to buy from them? Do arrogant people make you want to work with them? Or do they make you think "buzz off"?

The world is shrinking

2011-07-03T17:08:00.003+01:00

This is a bit off topic, but it's been something I've been thinking about for a while now.

I've heard for years that the world is shrinking, without realising at first-hand just how true this is.

When the only ways of transporting people or messages were powered by horses or the wind, fifty miles was a long way. If a friend or family member emigrated, voluntarily or involuntarily, it'd be very likely you'd never know what became of them. And trading with foreign countries was an expensive, long-drawn-out and very risky business.

Now, the wonders of electronic communication mean the world really has shrunk. Even if you can't talk to someone face to face (which I still believe is by far the best way to build and maintain a relationship, personal or business), you can keep in touch with them online until you see them again.

Every week I talk to my parents in Wales from my home in Cumbria, and see them as well, all without paying a penny, thanks to Skype video calls. ("It's like science fiction" says my 72-year-old dad.)

I can have an e-mail conversation with a friend who's just gone out to Bangkok as easily as I could before he left the UK.

A fellow accountant in the US e-mailed to ask me what it's like to set up your own business in your spare time, and how to charge your clients when you do that. I e-mailed him back to tell him. Without e-mail and the web he'd never have even known I exist.

And it's as easy for us at FreeAgent to sell our online accounting software service to overseas customers as to UK-based customers.

There's a world out there. And it's extremely exciting.

Good service from HM Revenue!

2011-06-11T20:35:00.003+01:00

How often does anyone say "That was good service from HM Revenue"?

I'm going to - and please don't summon the men in white coats!

I'd been struggling to register my company, Home Business Accountant Ltd, for online filing for corporation tax. That's now compulsory. But every time I tried to register, I got an error message saying "either your details are incorrect or you're already registered".

I knew my details were correct. And I knew my company wasn't already registered.

Phoning the helpline left me listening to a series of recorded messages as I navigated a push-button phone system. And then at the end of them was another recorded message saying, "I'm sorry, we're really busy at the moment, we can't take your call, please ring back later".

They do have an e-mail helpline though. So I fired an e-mail off to them - and quite honestly wasn't holding my breath for an answer.

Then today, 2.24pm, in popped a message saying "Leave the trailing 0 off the start of your company registration number".

A sensible, practical solution... would it work? I tried it and... bingo!

Just a pity it took them nearly a week to answer my e-mail, but hey, they answered on a Saturday and solved my problem!

Thank you, HM Revenue!

And to anyone else who's trying to register for corporation tax online filing... leave the first 0 off your company registration number!!

The power of the little words

2011-03-11T16:24:00.002Z

Happiness is infectious. If you make someone else happy, you'll make yourself happy too.

Mark Lee tells how an accountant made his/her client's day by writing to that client to thank them for being such a great client.

Everyone loves a pat on the back. Just think how bucked you felt the last time someone whose opinion you value wrote you a recommendation on LinkedIn.

But it doesn't have to take the form of even that many words to brighten someone's day.

Try the effect of these few little words:

"Thank you."

"Well done."

"Good luck."

Look into the person's eyes as you say it, if you can (obviously you can't do that if you're Tweeting them), and watch their whole face light up as they smile.

It'll brighten up your day.

Twitter is a great vehicle for that. Thank someone for RT'ing you. Wish someone good luck. I was in the hot seat for an accounting webchat at the end of January and I will admit to having had presenter's nerves that morning. A tweet arrived from my mentor to wish me luck, my confidence levels shot up and suddenly I felt "yes, I can do this". And no, I didn't forget to tweet back to thank him!

One of my other favourite techniques is, if I've received good service in a store, to ask to see the manager and pass on my thanks to the individual who served me. That not only brings huge smiles to both their faces, but I always walk out feeling very happy. And I know that some chains reward staff who are thanked by customers, so you could be earning them some vouchers too!

The little words can be so powerful!

Trust me, I'm a customer

2010-11-28T12:00:00.003Z

Earlier this year I read a great book by Stephen M. R. Covey called "The Speed of Trust".

This deals mainly with how if you trust your employees, they will work smarter for you, relationships grow more quickly and the whole company becomes more productive.

I think this principle also applies to customers. If you trust your customers, they will be loyal and come back to buy from you again.

I always buy a lot of my Christmas presents from Lakeland. Their products are excellent quality and because they're based in Cumbria, I can get local food goodies from there too. Cumbria does have some lovely local foods (think Sharrow Bay sticky toffee pudding, or fudge and toffee from The Toffee Shop in Penrith) which make fantastic gifts for friends and family.

Yesterday morning I sat down to unpack my box of Lakeland Christmas gifts and found that two of them had become dented in transit, so couldn't be given as gifts.

They'd put a note in the box to explain what to do if you wanted a refund or exchange - ring their helpline.

The very helpful lady on the other end said she would send me replacements straight away and please to donate the damaged goods to "a charity or good cause of your choice".

Never mind "send them back so we can verify they're really damaged". Never mind "send them back and we'll give them to charity". She trusted that the goods really were damaged. She believed me when I told her so. And she trusted me to give them to charity rather than keep them.

Not only does that make the whole process faster, because I didn't have to post back the damaged goods and wait on two lots of posting for new ones, but that trust means I'll be even more likely to buy my Christmas presents from Lakeland again next year.

Of course there will always be the odd rotten apple in the barrel, the employee who abuses your trust by taking sick leave to take his cat to the vet (no joking, I knew someone who did that), or the customer who keeps a dented box of chocolates or rings up pretending his goods are damaged just to get a new set.

But I would imagine that the extra customer loyalty Lakeland earn by trusting their customers means their repeat sales to these customers vastly outweigh any losses caused by dishonest customers.

Paddi Lund's Tower of Trust model has as one of its building blocks "Demonstrate Trusting". Lakeland just did that beautifully.

Business class on the train?

2010-10-25T17:46:00.003+01:00

Another musing from a Virgin Train.

During this busy holiday period, as the trains fill with travelling families enjoying their half-term break, I'm wondering if it's time for the train companies to go back to having three different classes and have a business class, like long-distance airlines do.

One or more carriages on long-distance trains would be designated business class coaches and it'd cost a premium to sit there, though not as much as first class.

These coaches would have a few soundproofed booths from which businesspeople could make calls on their mobile phones. The rest of the coach would be "quiet" with no use of mobile phones allowed, enabling businesspeople to work or read in peace.

And "quiet" would mean "quiet". So families, stag and hen parties, and other "noisy" groups wouldn't be allowed to sit in business class (unless the alternative was sitting in the corridor because the train was packed to the rafters - but business class would be "declassified" officially in these situations, as first class is).

At-seat tea and coffee would be served, but it would cost, not be free as it is in first class.

And the WiFi service would be cheaper than in standard class, but again, not free.

I wonder... will any train companies think of doing that? I would certainly pay extra to travel in those conditions.

And while they're at it, the train companies could put on a family coach too. Maybe even with space for children to play, and at-seat TVs.

Martin Leuw says "if PAYE ain't broke don't fix it"

2010-10-06T09:21:00.002+01:00

I attended IRIS World 2010 in London yesterday and was introduced to Martin Leuw, CEO of IRIS.

Martin recently wrote a piece for The Independent, "The coalition needs to cut red-tape and fast", saying that both employment law and health and safety law need to be made simpler, because they put small businesses off hiring employees.

I couldn't agree more with that. I help look after HR at FreeAgent and while I can see why it's important to have a first aid box in the office and send several members of staff to learn first aid (my parents both owe their lives to trained first aiders), I can't see why it was necessary to buy a big shiny poster about health and safety law and Blu-Tack it up in the office. Surely it would have been enough, and far more environmentally friendly, to send round a link to the health and safety website for staff to read?

But the nub of Martin's piece, for me, is his concern about proposed plans to devolve the responsibility for running payroll to HM Revenue.

I run FreeAgent's payroll. It is my responsibility to make sure everyone takes home the right amount of money each month. I relish that. In my days in practice I saw just what a hash HM Revenue can make of things. I'm blessed if I want them getting their grubby little paws on running our payroll. And I'm sure I'm not the only payroll queen/king who feels like that.

Besides which, HM Revenue have enough to do, recovering all these billions of pounds in unpaid taxes that we keep hearing about.

So I agree with Martin on all counts. Simplify the system but don't mess with what already works! Please!

The plane or the train?

2010-09-24T17:37:00.002+01:00

We have mixed ways of travelling between Edinburgh and London at FreeAgent. Some of the guys like to go by plane 'cos it's quicker. Others prefer the train so they can work on the journey.

I've tried both in the last couple of days. I flew to London (City Airport) yesterday evening, then after a seminar at the ICAEW this morning, I'm now on the train back home.

Why the different methods of travel? Simple. I'm going home to Carlisle which doesn't (yet?) have a passenger airport. That means I have to go home by train. And I needed to be in the office as long as possible yesterday, but be in London in time for dinner. That meant flying.

Unlike my sister (PR officer for the Vegan Society) I don't object to flying when needed. (Sorry Manda.) I prefer not to do it every week but quite happy to fly if it's the most practical way to travel for that particular journey.

Next time I go to London, I'll also be going by train, again because I'm travelling from Carlisle.

But if and when I travel between Edinburgh and London again, which method would I choose?

I have to say I think I'd plump for the plane.

I was only offline for just over an hour while the flight was airborne. I could quite happily work at the airport before the plane left (especially given I have my new company iPhone). And it meant spending less time squished into a tiny space with a bunch of random strangers :-) Also, never mind the on-train so-called quiet coach where you're not supposed to use mobiles - on the plane you physically can't use them. So writing articles and blog posts would be easier on the plane, in a quieter environment.

Perhaps it's also because there's no excitement about travelling by train any more now that I do it at least twice a week, but flying is still something of a novelty :-)

Price? Book early enough and the plane has it! My plane ticket cost me £40 (British Airways, Edinburgh to London City) and the single train ticket cost £58!

The plane's only downside is that take-off and landing do give me the blue spooks.

So all in all, definitely the plane wins!

British Airways needs a policy on big umbrellas

2010-09-23T12:40:00.003+01:00

I'm flying from Edinburgh to London on British Airways later today.

Only staying one night, and need to get across London reasonably swiftly when I arrive, so am aiming to travel as light as I can, i.e. take just a cabin bag, no hold luggage, so I don't have to wait at baggage reclaim.

It's pouring here in Edinburgh (least it looks like pouring to this soft Southern Sassanach).

No problem, I thought, I have a big umbrella.

But that umbrella's too big to fit in my cabin bag, so will I have to check it in, I wondered?

Nothing about umbrellas on BA's website. When I searched it on the word "umbrella", I got marketing dross about "lying under a palm-fringed umbrella". I don't think there are many of those in Edinburgh. Or London.

So I rang BA's customer contact line (having found the number at the bottom of a page that took me through various website searches before it would show me a phone number).

The lady at the other end was very polite BUT she couldn't answer my question.

She said that the airport staff would be able to tell me whether:

The umbrella would be classed as a "dangerous item", in which case I could carry it on board but would have to give it to the cabin crew to stow away during the flight, or
The umbrella would have to be checked in.

I'm not taking the risk of having to check it in and make myself late.

Nor am I taking the risk of potentially having to surrender my umbrella at the airport. It's one thing to lose my shampoo because it's in too large a bottle. It's another to have to dump a very nice strong umbrella.

So I'll just have to get wet.

Brilliant.

UPDATE: I bought a cheap small umbrella to tuck in my cabin bag. Then saw a guy carrying a big umbrella on to the plane as hand luggage. Bother!

"The quiet coach is a myth"

2010-06-28T17:21:00.004+01:00

Another instalment from the Not-So-Quiet-Coach on Virgin Trains.

Tonight's travel companions? A family with young children. Adults valiantly trying to keep them quiet, which is something.

Besuited man two rows ahead of me asked them to keep quiet in low but cross tones.

And then he complained to the train manager about it when she came to check the tickets. She said "We can't do anything about children in the quiet coach".

He gave her a hissed earful.

She turned away from him when it looked like he hadn't quite finished.

He grabbed his bag and stomped out of the coach.

Now I don't think that getting stroppy with the family was the approach I'd have taken. As an auntie of five I know that young children don't do quiet unless they're asleep.

But if the train manager can't / won't do anything, then as Relative Sanity quite rightly says, the quiet coach is a myth.

I don't think there's any point at all in forbidding customers to use mobile phones in here if Virgin aren't going to at least try and control noise created by other passengers.

Thankfully it doesn't cost extra to sit in here, which is something. But perhaps it should. I'd gladly pay a premium to sit in a genuinely quiet coach. And I do mean genuinely quiet. Not as it currently is.

Because it does make it very difficult to work if the environment is noisy.

Speed the day when I can afford to travel first class :-)

UPDATE: Another tweet contact has quite rightly pointed out that it can be awkward if a family's booked seats and have ended up in the quiet coach. Perhaps Virgin should add - or designate - a family coach.

UPDATE 2: I have contacted Virgin Trains customer service using the feedback form on their website, to give my feedback about the quiet coach issues I've encountered. Let's see what effect that has...

Sometimes it needs a real person

2010-06-25T16:26:00.002+01:00

My browser of choice when I'm on my home PC is definitely Firefox.

I was using it to make a screencast a couple of weeks back and managed to lose not only the navigation bar but also the menu bar (the bit that says File, Edit, View, etc) which made life much harder.

All of a sudden navigation was well-nigh impossible and I was having to bite the bullet and use IE as my browser.

Then this afternoon I got fed up and pinged out a tweet asking if anyone knew how to fix the problem and bring back my menu bar.

Within seconds I got a reply from a friend with the answer - press Alt + F and the menu bar will temporarily reappear so that you can choose View, Menu Bar to turn it back on permanently.

Yay.

Firstly, thanks Patrick.

But there's also a lesson to learn here for customer service.

No matter how good your knowledge base, manual, website or other support documentation is, there are times when you do just want to ask a "real person", a "quick question".

This is why a phone or live chat support helpline is so valuable. Even if the answer to your question is in the support documentation, sometimes you just don't have time to wade through and find it.

And this is also why push-button helplines are a pain. Struggling through all those menus trying to work out which option you need... Oh for "press 1 to speak to a real person".

Or, even better would be, "Press 1 to speak to a real, intelligent person".

Car recovery and hire

2010-05-15T15:55:00.002+01:00

Just back from a week's holiday in Northumberland.

Driving over there last Saturday, across a moorland road, a motorcyclist coming the other way lost control of his machine at a bend with nasty adverse camber, swerved over to the wrong side of the road - and went smack into the front of our car.

He ended up with two broken legs, a shattered pelvis, and a brand new motorbike in smithereens.

Thankfully on our side the only casualty was the car (written off). Matt and I were unhurt.

The RAC sent a local company, R S Johnson, to recover our car. The guy who turned up with the recovery truck was so friendly and helpful that we decided to also hire a car from them for the week of our holiday.

Again, great service. National car hire firms have bitten us with charges before now (like the one which charged us for a whole new bumper when all we did was knock off the rubber bumper protector). But these guys charged very reasonable fees and went out of their way to provide great service - including a lift to the station this morning to catch our train home.

In fact, all the local people we met were really helpful when they heard about our accident. The lady at the pub, the lady at the shop and at least one person in the street offered us lifts.

I love the North of England.

Why estate agents have a bad name

2010-04-09T17:35:00.003+01:00

Commuting 3-4 days a week from Carlisle to Edinburgh is getting very tiring. I've decided to look for a little flat to rent in Edinburgh.

Arranged to view one this evening. I duly arrived. The agent duly arrived, and as we were climbing the stairs he mentioned that the existing tenant was still in (I knew that), and that he'd been advised we were coming - by e-mail.

Mmm, I thought, not a good idea, I hope the tenant received the e-mail.

Of course he hadn't. And of course he was cross that we'd effectively turned up unannounced. And of course he said it wasn't convenient for us to view the flat.

I wish I knew that poor guy's name so I could apologise to him. He looked like he'd just woken up when he answered the door. Perhaps he was a shift-worker catching up on his sleep.

But I'm seriously unimpressed with that agency. Here's why.

They should have phoned the tenant to ask if it was convenient for us to visit - not e-mailed him. E-mails can get lost in cyberspace and can take longer than 24 hours to pick up and read.
Without a reply to their e-mail, they should then have alerted me that they hadn't been able to reach the existing tenant, and asked me if I wanted to go round on the off-chance or leave it.

So I won't be going through that agency. Nice though the flat's location was, if that's an example of the service they provide to their tenants, I don't want to be one.

Virgin put their mistake right - bravo

2010-03-12T16:49:00.002Z

During the Big January Freeze, Virgin Trains did jolly well in providing any train service at all here in the frozen North.

The trains did suffer delays, but cancellations were remarkably few in number.

The only problem happened on one day when the passenger door at the front of the train froze shut and wouldn't open to let me off at Haymarket.

By the time I'd made my way down the train to the next door, the driver had locked the doors - leaving me no choice but to stay on the train until Edinburgh Waverley.

Thankfully that's only 5 minutes away. But because my train was already a good hour late, rather than do the longer walk to the office from Waverley, I got a taxi.

I wrote to Virgin Trains explaining what had happened and asking them to reimburse my £8 taxi fare.

Then yesterday, a very polite and apologetic letter arrived in the post, with an £8 cheque attached.

Bravo Virgin, that's what I call good service.

A mistake was made but it was put right and due recompense made. You can't ask more than that.

Of grey suede boots, pigeons, and a very helpful hardware shop

2010-01-27T17:26:00.004Z

Walking across Edinburgh to the office this morning, I noticed a pigeon had relieved itself on my boot.

That's a new-last-month pale grey suede boot which I'm rather proud of.

Cursing all pigeons, I headed for Home Hardware on Morningside Road, which is the sort of little hardware and household shop that sells everything you can think of and more besides.

This shop not only proved to stock suede brushes, but the gentleman behind the counter proceeded to kneel down and brush the pigeon dropping off my boot, leaving it pristine.

And he was surprised when I said I still wanted to buy the brush.

I figured it was the least I could do after receiving such excellent and thoughtful service.

And I'll also be forearmed if any more pigeons decide to aim for my boots.

There's no seat in that space!

2010-01-23T13:53:00.002Z

This blog is turning into "M's traveller's tales".

Here's Virgin Trains' latest caper.

Yesterday morning, at Carlisle station ready to travel to Edinburgh, I decided to book a seat in the quiet coach on the 16.57 coming home that evening.

Lady behind the counter: "The 18.16 doesn't have a quiet coach".
M: "No, I said the 16.57 not the 18.16".

She eventually (after several questions to her colleague, checking whether the train was a Virgin Pendolino or Virgin SuperVoyager, and getting stopped by the computer system several times) presented me with a reservation for seat 1 in coach A, the quiet coach.

As the train drew into Haymarket that evening, I was glad I'd reserved a seat. The train was packed.

BUT... when I got into coach A, I discovered that seat 1 was... the wheelchair space.

And unlike on buses, the wheelchair space on trains (well, Virgin Trains anyway) has no seat in it.

Given I'd booked the seat in person and the lady behind the counter could see I wasn't in a wheelchair, I'm bewildered as to why she gave me that space...

Thankfully there were one or two other seats free in the quiet coach so I sat in one of those. Otherwise I'd have been standing for an hour back to Carlisle.

Oh well, it makes a good story for the blog...

Quiet? Who said quiet?

2010-01-16T18:02:00.004Z

As my Twitter friend Katie Macdonald (a virtual assistant whose niche market is foodie businesses - great idea) says, I don't seem to have much luck with the "quiet" coach on Virgin Trains.

My train journey up to Edinburgh for my job with FreeAgent is part of my working day. So I always make a beeline for the quiet coach, on the basis that I should be able to work more easily there.

But "quiet" is often a misnomer.

In the last few months, I've encountered, in the quiet coach:

Crying babies
Shouting children
People talking loudly to each other
People talking loudly on mobile phones
People listening to their iPods so loudly I can hear it at the other end of the coach

Now a crying baby I can sympathise with, because if the baby is asleep then the best place for him/her is the quiet coach, so that there's more chance that he/she will stay asleep. And as an auntie of five, I know that babies don't sleep on demand. Also, on a busy train it's just not practical for mum or dad to take the baby out of the quiet coach until he/she goes to sleep.

I guess the same goes for a bored and fractious child. Unless there's a family carriage (which Virgin Trains don't seem to have), there's not really anywhere to take that child to let off steam.

But I'm sorry, if you want to have a loud conversation with your friends (whether they're on the train or at the other end of a mobile), don't sit in the quiet coach. And ditto if you want to play your iPod.

The signs on the trains say "please refrain from using mobile phones and creating unnecessary noise". But in 3 months of using the quiet coach, I've only once heard one of the train staff ask a passenger to turn his/her mobile off or put it on silent.

That's what I do. My mobiles stay firmly on silent when I'm in the quiet coach and if anyone rings, I scuttle out into the corridor.

Perhaps Virgin should put up more detailed guidelines for use of the quiet coach, or police it more zealously. Because noisy people just ruin the quiet coach for those of us who want - well, a bit of quiet.

Sorry folks, rant over :-)

Virgin took their time... but WiFi works a treat!

2009-12-04T17:33:00.001Z

A month after I asked for clarification on the date when WiFi was going to be installed on all the SuperVoyager trains, I had a very apologetic e-mail from Virgin saying "sorry for the delay in responding, but we have now got WiFi on all our trains".

This had to be tried.

So last Monday I caught a SuperVoyager home instead of my usual First TransPennine train and checked out the WiFi (not expecting much because I'd heard on the grapevine that it didn't work well on the Scottish route).

It worked a treat.

Which is great because it means, if I catch a SuperVoyager, I can check and clear e-mails on the way in and on the way home, making the best possible use of the commute.

And, as an added bonus, the SuperVoyagers are a) quieter b) more comfortable and c) bigger therefore you're less likely to find yourself packed in like a sardine, than the First TransPennine trains.

Just a pity you have to pay for WiFi in Standard Class, but hey, you can't have it all :-)

Virgin says "computer says no"

2009-11-05T13:09:00.002Z

Yesterday morning. M at the station ready to travel to Edinburgh once she had collected her ticket from the pre-pay machine, having bought it with a credit card on the fab Raileasy website.

Looks in rucksack... coat pocket... no wallet and therefore no credit card, debit card, cash or anything.

Panics.

Remembers she left wallet in pocket of other coat the previous night.

Stops panicking and hopes that nice lady behind the counter can issue her ticket given she (M) knows the booking reference number (written in her diary) and all the details of the journey.

Nice lady says no because computer says it must have the credit card that made the booking.

Nice lady also says "please let me finish" when M was not aware she had interrupted in the middle of a sentence. (Middle of a paragraph maybe but humans do not always have to deliver a pre-prepared speech.)

M cannot travel to Edinburgh.

M has to phone husband and get him to come to the station with cash to buy another ticket.

Husband arrives just as train leaves - without M on it.

M is late for work and cross with Virgin Trains. "Computer says no" is a feeble excuse for bad customer service.

WiFi on the train

2009-11-05T13:05:00.003Z

Now that I'm travelling up and down to Edinburgh several times a week, I'm trying to find out whether I can access the internet on the train (mobile broadband dongle is hopeless on the train because the reception is so poor).

Virgin have WiFi on their Pendolino trains. But the trains that run between Carlisle and Edinburgh are SuperVoyagers which don't yet have WiFi.

Virgin say on their website that this will be available in "Summer 2009". OK, it's now November. That's not summer by any stretch of the imagination.

The other trains that run between Carlisle and Edinburgh are First TransPennine Express trains.

So I asked both these train companies about WiFi. For Virgin, it was "what is the updated timescale for putting WiFi on SuperVoyager trains?" and for TransPennine, it was, "are you planning to put WiFi on your trains?"

That was about 2 weeks ago.

TransPennine have since said "no - but we do have power sockets at every table". What good that's going to do me when I'm trying to access the Internet I do not know :-)

And Virgin haven't replied yet. Black mark for customer service there.